Mugato
by Hse Hissie
Summary: Jim hides life threatening injuries from his crew until they unavoidably find out and Bones is not impressed with Jim's utter dislike of sickbay and doctors in general. Bad Summary!
1. Pain

**AN. I do not own Star Trek or any of the Characters. This story is dedicated to my long time friend and beta, ****Wesley E. Matillies**** who has coached me through writing a story about a movie that i have seen once and knew nothing about!**

The pain woke me up from my deep slumber, forcing me to clutch my stomach. I lifted my stiff, blood soaked black shirt and swore. The lacerations I had got from the last mission had not healed and were bleeding freely. Bones was going to kill me. The last mission was 2 days ago and I had directly disobeyed Spock and Bones' orders to undergo a physical. Not that they knew the full extent of my injuries. I had luckily been alone when the Mugato attacked. It took all of my strength to return to Bones and Spock without telling them.

'Captain Kirk to the Bridge'

'Captain Kirk to the Bridge'

I groaned outwardly at the wall mounted communicator system. Without moving much I got up and changed my shirt as it would not do to go to the bridge with my shirt saturated in blood. I even wrapped my stomach up with a bandage, hoping that I would not be needed on the bridge for too long, and that the blood would not show through.

I slowly made my way up to the bridge, not really talking to anyone that I came across, I was not in a very chatty mood. I tried to walk normally and I think that I succeeded for the most part. Arriving at the bridge I noticed Spock waiting for me, watching me as I awkwardly sat down in the command chair. I could not help but wince as the bandages pulled at my cuts. Hopefully Spock didn't notice and thank God that Bones wasn't in the room, as I swear that he has some sort of internal, 'Jim is hurt' radar.

Spock started to relay his news and I tried my hardest to look engrossed in what he was saying but the pain stole my attention away, as did the feeling of blood soaking through my makeshift bandages. I would have to change them soon or somebody would notice that something was wrong.

"Captain. My previous studies have shown the attention span of human kind to be one of the lowest of known species though your demeanour would suggest that something is troubling you. It would seem you have not comprehended my report."

Spock's voice broke through my thoughts and I looked up to see his face looming in my vision.

"Of course I am listening to you, Spock, continue."

Spock continued on his rant and I found my self slipping away again. Suddenly the voices changed and I found Spock once again calling me, his face now directly in front of me.

"Captain, since you are not able to focus on the matters at hand, I have asked Dr. McCoy to escort you to sickbay."

This jolted me right out of my thoughts and I saw red.

"And why would you do that?"

As always Spock replied with his honeyed logic.

"You are quite obviously in pain and it is impairing on your sensory impute, interpretation of facts and overall judgement."

I had had enough of Spock's logic by now so I decided to storm off. My body had other ideas. I pushed my self out of my seat and stood up straight. Taking a step, my stomach protested and I crumpled into Spock's waiting arms. He carefully placed me back on my chair and went over to his console. Looking me straight in the eyes, he paged Bones again, telling him to hurry.

"Spock, I don't need Bones up here I can -"

I tried to stand again but fell back heavily enough that I could hear the command chair groan in protest.

"Captain, you are unable to walk. If you wish, we could spend the rest of the afternoon watching you collapse into your chair after multiple failed attempts at standing."

I was tempted to try again but decided against it. I could always pull rank on Bones later. Making a fool of myself now, would only make it worse for me later. I thanked the heavens that it was a peaceful watch. It would have been a lot worse if the bridge had of been full. Much worse.

The quiet swish of the turbo lift alerted me to somebody's arrival, I guessed that it was Bones; and I couldn't help but slump in my chair. My guess was right as I heard Spock approach the door and converse with Bones, most likely detailing his thoughts and observations about me as well as my numerous yet failed attempts to stand up. It irked me that I was not part of the conversation yet was in the room, but I could not do anything about it so I just waited. Eventually they broke off their conversing and walked around to stand in front of me. Bones knelt and muttered something about how he knew that it was me, that it was always me who gets hurt. All I wanted to do was hit him and Spock then storm off to my cabin to relax. My stomach had decided that it wanted to humiliate me further by bleeding heavily so my plans went out the window and I draped my arms over my stomach gracefully and tried not to clutch it too hard yet making it harder for Bones.

Bones' faithful medical tricorder made an appearance and I was slowly counting down the seconds before the undeniable fury that was coming. The tricorder hovered over my stomach for a few seconds before continuing on its diagnostical journey. I held my breath and waited. Bones frowned at the scanner and rose to his feet walking over to Spock's desk and quietly talked to him, again not loud enough for me to hear them, Spock looking more and more puzzled by the second. I nearly jumped for joy; as it did not look as if the tricorder had picked up on my cuts. Finishing there conversation, the both walked back towards me. Spock just stood there, a metre away, observing me whilst Bones knelt down in front of me again.

"Jim, I am not here to hurt you, I just want to help you but you need to tell me what is wrong with you."

He looked very concerned and I could not help the laugh that escaped my lips. He didn't want to hurt me, yeah right, I was sure that he was just itching to use the nearest hypospray on me.

"Bones, absolutely nothing is wrong with me apart from the fact that I didn't get much sleep."

"Damn it, Jim, we know that something is wrong with you, Spock has already told me what happened before I came up so don't try to deny it. There is something wrong and all of us know it."

So they didn't know what was wrong, well at least that was a plus, however if I didn't get away from them soon, the blood would start to show through and then I would be in deep trouble.

"Bones, for the last time, I am fine, I just need to sleep and since Spock here seems to have nothing else to do apart from gossiping, he can take my watch as well. I am going to return to my room and sleep."

Bones face fell and I could not help but feel a little guilty about deceiving both of them, but if I hadn't I would be in a much worse situation. Both of them stepped away from my chair so I could get up. I slowly got up, making sure that it did not appear to have hurt me, when in reality, I was nearly screaming.

"Well if that is all, I will see you later."

I was nearly at the door when my undoing occurred. Spock started to reply to me and I twisted around to answer him when the bandages pulled my cuts open further, I could not help but gasp as blood quickly soaked my shirt and I collapsed. Just as I was about to hit the ground, I felt strong arms grab me and vaguely heard one person swearing colourfully, Bones appeared in my view and swore again, letting me know that it was Spock who was holding me up. Bones looked at me with irritation.

"Yes, Jim, absolutely nothing is wrong"

Turning to Spock, he thanked him for his quick reflexes and said something about explaining the symptoms. I felt myself being carried to the awaiting stretcher and being placed gently there, I could not muster up enough energy to thank Spock and I was somehow glad. I just sat limp on the stretcher not wanting for this to be happening, for the last few days to disappear.

Spock told Bones that he would take control of the bridge and to keep me for as long as was necessary. I however had different ideas as Bones wheeled me through the corridors toward sickbay.

**TBC**


	2. Fury

**AN. I do not own Star Trek or any of the Characters. This story is dedicated to my long time friend and beta, ****Wesley E. Matillies**** who has coached me through writing a story about a movie that i have seen once and knew nothing about!**

The entire way to the sickbay, I remained silent, gathering my strength for the inevitable fight and resulting fury. Bones was also silent and I could not help but wondering what was running through his mind and hoping in vain that it had nothing to do with me. Thankfully the journey was uneventful and we did not cross paths with anyone.

As we approached the sickbay entrance my stomach lurched and I could not stop myself from gasping quietly, hoping that Bones did not hear. He didn't mention anything but imperceptibly sped up. Bugger, I am giving him ammunition, I thought as we finally arrived at the automatic doors. I groaned again at the sight of them, Bones just patted me on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Jim, we will sort it out soon then you won't be in anymore pain. Just hang in there."

Crap, he thinks that I was groaning in pain not in protest of the forthcoming gloom and pain that existed beyond these doors. My protests were overcome by an overwhelming fatigue and sense of numbness. Bones left me near the main bio-bed and continued over to the cupboard, no doubt getting all manner of diagnostic tools and vials for that damn hypospray which was sitting a foot away from me. All I wanted to do was get it and either hide it or throw the hypo away. Far away. The movement however sent my stomach into spasms and I went involuntarily limp on my gravity stretcher.

Bones, finished with what he was doing, came back over to me and was about to tell me to get my self onto the bed when he took a good look at me. Not saying a word, he turned to a nearby orderly and together they lifted me off the stretcher and onto the nearby bio-bed. Thanking the woman, Bones turned to me. Pulling out his tricorder again he ran it over my body, frowning at the read out. Taking a step closer he checked my carotid pulse and his expression did not change.

"Jim, you have low blood pressure, a rapid and weak pulse, you are pale, cold and clammy to touch and are obviously extremely weak and dizzy and have a reduced level of consciouness. All the normal symptoms of shock but no cause. You need to tell me what is wrong."

I opened by mouth to tell him once again that there was nothing wrong when I felt the nausea that had plagued me since I woke come to the surface.

"Bones…"

My voice trailed off when he interrupted me.

"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a mind reader!"

I was about to vomit when he saw my green tinged face, swore and quickly shoved a bucket into my lap. After vomiting for what seemed hours, I was finally finished. Bones gave me a glass of water and a cloth to wipe my face and hands whilst he went to dispose of my waste. I sneaked a look at my stomach and realised that my shirt had acquired a stiff, dried blood coating. Bones was going to notice and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

As he returned the irritation on his face was replaced by utter concern.

"Jim, there was blood in your vomit and you are slipping further into shock and you will still not tell me. So, you will be getting that physical that you have been avoiding."

My secret that I had kept for the last two days was about to be revealed and right at the moment I could not care less. This had gone far enough, yet I was not going to make it easy for him.

Bones took my boots off then came round the bed to help me with my shirt. The concern on his face changed to confusion when he touched my shirt but proceeded to remove my shirt. As I was completely numb and could not help him, he just cut it off, the shirt slowly peeling away to reveal a bright red bandage covering the area between my breast bone and my hips. It was saturated. Bones just left it there as he continued to strip me down to my under shorts. By that time I was violently shivering and crying due to the pain of moving.

"Jim, why is there a bandage that is saturated in fresh blood wrapped extremely tightly around your chest and abdomen?"

"Oh, that, it is not bleeding that much, I didn't want to worry you, you had so many other things to do with your time then worry about some small insignificant scratches. I can deal with them."

My brave words were in stark contrast to the picture I probably made on that bio-bed. And I tried to laugh but my body was not responding to my intentions.

Bones slowly undid the bandages and as the last bit pulled at my cuts, I screamed as it felt like my body was being ripped into shreds. Bones gasped as blood started to flow over my pale skin.

"Yes, Jim, they are insignificant, very insignificant, was this what you were hiding from Spock and I, when we got separated during the last mission? You should have come to me sooner and this would not have happened. Now, I am going to have to keep you here for longer, and you are definitely going to need surgery, and oh, sorry about this."

And with that, Bones brought the hypospray that he was holding, to my neck and depressed it, I groaned and everything went dark.

**TBC**


	3. Death

******AN. I do not own Star Trek or any of the Characters. I just wish to thank my beta ****Wesley E. Matillies**** who not only checked my work but wrote the parts about Bones. **

_The battle raged around me as I fought to reach Spock. It wasn't hard as all I had to do was follow the trail of unconscious bodies. Crap. I looked down and saw the liquid I was dreading. Blood, green blood. The blood of a Vulcan. I sped up and jumping over the row of bodies in front of me, I could just make out the pointy ears of my First Officer. I breathed a sigh of relief but flung myself into battle as he was sparring against 9 people at once. _

_I had never seen so many people fighting at the one time and in the one place. The bodies littering the ground. Before my eyes Spock took a hit and fell to the ground. I rushed over and took up a defensive position above him, fighting the people that had hurt Spock. _

_Hours later, when I had exhausted my phaser power and there were no more live enemies in sight, the rest either dead or escaped, I looked down to see Spock motionless on the ground, clothes stained green with dried blood. Kneeling I tried to wake him, but he would never wake again. I lifted my head to the skies and wailed, raw emotion flooding me, my arms clutching the lifeless body of my friend. _

"Spock is fine, Jim, don't worry. Just go back to sleep." Bones' voice gave me a much needed reprieve from my nightmare. Except that it gave my brain more to go on.

_I paced up and down the narrow gap between bio-beds in sickbay. The blue and white sterile environment was making me itch and I longed to be back on my bridge. If it were any other day, Bones would be skulking around, grumpily demanding I "get the hell out of sickbay, leave the patients alone" and that I would "know if anything happened". I wished this were any other day._

_Nurse Chappel pulled me out into the corridor, seeming braver than she obviously felt. 'I'm sorry Captain. There are just some things that no amount of medication or technology can fix.' And in that moment when her professional façade slipped, I knew it was hopeless. This was not what I wanted to hear._

_I stormed away from her back into sickbay and flung away the pale dividing curtain. If they had me hooked up to one of these monitors, I seriously doubt my heart would register. If I ignored the computer printouts, data displays and my own heart, I could almost believe he was sleeping peacefully. I knew he wasn't._

'_Captain?'_

_Spock. _

_I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry. I wanted to find some way, any way, to save my doctor. My friend. _

'_Captain, I believe it would be in the best interest to… end Doctor McCoy's suffering.'_

_Dammit! I knew he was right. I nodded involuntarily and as Nurse Chappel administered the fatal hypospray to Bones' neck I could not hide my own self loathing. I wanted to kick, scream and tear the whole bloody ship apart starting with wringing that damned Vulcan's neck!_

_Thick tears slid down my face as I cried out to the deck above. I had failed. I had failed by best friend and I hated myself for it. Maybe there is such as thing as a no-win scenario after all…_

"Jim, wake up Jim. It is alright. Don't cry, please calm down. Jim!" Uhura's voice brought me from my vision but did not fully lift me into consciousness, her voice bringing another vision to me.

_It had been ten days since they had last seen Uhura and in the days past the crew had gone to pieces, moving around the ship like ghosts, only doing the necessary tasks and talking very little. Spock had been hit the hardest, cracks forming in his usually perfect, impenetrable and emotionless façade. _

_We had been told to leave orbit and to return to our mission but we just couldn't. There was a voice in every one of our heads saying that she was still alive and if we left we would be killing her and none of us could deal with her blood on our hands._

_The Ensign who had been covering Uhura's duty watch at the communication station on the bridge nervously spoke into his headset._

"_Ensign West, what is it?" when I could see that he had something to report._

"_Captain, um, Admiral Pike, um, wishes to um… speak to you. Um, he doesn't sound, um…"_

"_Doesn't sound what, Ensign? Quit the 'uming' and just get on with your report. I am not going to bite your head off." I glanced at Spock, expecting him to add his remarks but he was focused on his station, rigid and unmoving with grief. After taking a deep breath the Ensign replied._

"_Yes Captain. Admiral Pike doesn't seem very impressed."_

_I sighed. _

"_Alright, put him up on the screen. The Ensign pushed a few buttons on his console and Pike's face appeared on the screen facing me._

"_James Tiberius Kirk, how dare you disobey direct orders from your Starfleet superiors? You were ordered to return to your mission, yet you are still in the same place as you have resided in for the past 15 days. I realize that you have not yet located Lieutenant Uhura but need I remind you of the survival rates in unfamiliar and unfriendly planets. I am truly sorry for your loss but you have got to accept it. She is dead and there is nothing you can do about it._

_At that point I zoned out and focused on the only thing that mattered from Pike's rant. "She's dead."_

_Ensign West interrupted my thoughts with his unsure voice._

"_Captain, sir, I have a transmission from the locals. They wish to 'have conference' with you."_

"_Have conference?"_

"_That is exactly what they said, sir."_

"_Alright, put it up."_

_An image of a one eyed, blue man with a crown of spiked crystals appeared on the plasma._

"_To whom would I be talking to?" I inquired coldly._

"_My name is Zankerin and I am king of this planet which you call Votarben IV, and you are Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise, formerly from Iowa, United States of America, Earth, The Federation."_

"_How do you know who I am and why are you only contacting us now?" _

"_Forget the formalities and the pleasantries. I have knowledge that you require knowledge about your communications officer, Lieutenant Nyota Uhura."_

"_Where is she?"_

"_She is at the transport co-ordinates that I have given to Ensign West. You may collect her body."_

"_Her body? What have you done to her?" I roared._

"_She is dead."_

_I cut the transmission and sprinted down to the transporter room; Spock was already there and was holding out my away mission belt with a phaser attached in its holster. We stepped onto the plates and as one hollow voice, said, "Energize."_

_Spock was the first to recover and ran over to Uhura's mangled, bloody and lifeless body. I followed and dropped to the ground, tears flooding down my cold cheeks. _

_Spock's face showed his struggle for control the he broke, screaming and crying to the stars. His one true love's blood soaking his clothes._

A strong set of arms held me down as I thrashed, screaming my heart out. The person spoke to me continuously but I could not understand what he was saying only that the person who held me was Bones.

'_Aw hell, Jim! I hate transporters! You know what they do, don't you? They pull you apart atom by atom, molecule by molecule. If just one goes astray, poof, you're bourbon drinkin' days are over! For good!'_

'_Bones,' I argued, 'they asked for a doctor, you're a doctor and the only way to get there is by transporter so either you go willingly or I get Spock to knock you out and carry you.'_

_For his part, Spock just raised his eyebrow and stayed tactfully silent._

'_Green-blooded hobgoblin. He would, wouldn't he? Fine, I'll walk, thank you.'_

_The three of us entered Transporter Room One where Scotty was on duty. 'Aye Cap'in. Everythin' ready to go.'_

_Bones grumbled and moaned and shifted uneasily on the pad. Again, Spock just raised his eyebrow. I nodded to Scotty, 'Energize, Mr. Scott.'_

'_Aye Cap'in. Energizing.'_

_The dematerialization felt normal enough until the Catarn ship began to waver into focus then something began to feel very wrong. I was forcibly thrown out of the beam and landed with a metallic thud on the tri-tanium deck of the cargo ship. 'Spock! Bones!' my yell was met only by a slow, monotone string of Vulcan curses. Spock was alright but where was Bones? I flipped open my communicator, struggling to keep my voice in check. 'Kirk to Enterprise. Mr. Scott, what happened? Where's doctor McCoy?'_

_Scotty sounded agitated, upset. What had happened? 'I canne understand it Cap'in! One minute everythin' was fine, the next all the panels surged! I can't retrieve Doctor McCoy's pattern. I'm sorry Cap'in I'm afraid we've lost him.'_

_Spock hovered just behind my right shoulder, as close to comforting as a Vulcan can. 'There was nothing you could have done, Jim. It would be illogical to conclude you served as a contributing factor in this matter.'_

_I sighed and wiped my face with my free hand. 'It is my fault, Spock. He wouldn't have come if I hadn't have pestered him into coming. If it wasn't for me, he'd still be alive.'_

_I walked away, intent on finding a nice secluded corner I could tuck myself away in and cry. Bones hated transporters and transporter malfunctions were so rare they were practically non-existent. One brief power surge had wiped my best friend off the face of the universe; not even leaving behind anything for even a simple space burial. No-one should have to die like that._

_I hid behind a cargo crate and I yelled, screamed and cried for all it was worth._

A sharp pain in my neck brought me back for an instant then I sunk, further into the black murky depths of unconsciousness.

**TBC**


End file.
